Athens Motorcycle Show 2018.

I am a big fun of motorcycles and an avid rider for the last 30 years. Last weekend I had the chance to visit Athens Motorcycle show, check out all the new models and took a lot of photos. In the following article I will show you some of the bikes i liked the most. Some of them took my breath away and made me dream of long rides on open roads or putting my knee down while cornering on the track.
So here we go !!

Aprilia RSV4 Factory Works

Aprilia presented a Factory Works kit for the RSV4 RF and RR sportsbikes, which increases power to 215bhp and includes aerodynamic winglets, as featured on today’s crop of MotoGP bikes.

Carbon parts, a lighter fuel tank, lithium-ion battery and Akrapovic exhaust system are also available and bring the weight down by 10kg.

The kit also includes a number of parts for the engine which together significantly increase the power. Single-groove pistons with a surface treatment reduce effort and give a smoother action, giving a 4bhp increase alone.

A cylinder head kit helps improve fluid dynamics to the intake and exhaust ducts. This is further aided by new springs, valves and related caps while new camshafts that feature a surface treatment reduce friction even further.

Combined with the Akrapovic system and a new ECU that features a map for the exhaust, Aprilia claim that the max power increases to 215hp at the crank.

Giving it that true full-factory look, and also improving aerodynamics are the side fairings that feature winglets. The wings are developed by the factory Aprilia Racing team and feature on the RS-GP MotoGP machines. Not only do they look trick, the winglets also help with stability.

Aprilia Tuono 1100 V4

The Tuono V4 1100 is the only naked powered by a 65° V4 engine with unique characteristics. The narrow V architecture has made it possible to make an engine that is extremely compact lengthways which helps to centralise weights and to have a compact chassis. The changes made in this evolution of the Italian V4 resulted in an increase in overall reliability and performance, without sacrificing any of the great character and marvellous sound that bikers love so much. The powerplant adopts an exhaust system with a silencer that has a double oxygen sensor and a built in valve. The engine ECU has high calculating capacity and is able to manage the rise in maximum revs, 500 rpm higher than the previous model. In order to guarantee maximum reliability, decreasing friction at the same time, the piston pins have DLC surface treatment, whereas the connecting rod heads boast a surface honing treatment. The combustion chambers are no longer obtained through a fusion process, but by a finer, numerically controlled mechanical process, whereas the gearbox has a linear sensor that guarantees impeccable gearshift operation.
The greatest innovations have to do with the Aprilia Tuono V4’s on board electronics, that has always been considered as the “best in class”, where the APRC system stands out. Aprilia Performance Ride Control is the patented control suite derived directly from the winning technology in world Superbike, the most complete and refined of those available on motorbikes in the same segment. The fourth generation of APRC, standard on the Tuono V4 1100, fits in perfectly with the fine electronic management of the full Ride-by-Wire throttle, that has allowed all superfluous throttle body electronic management components to be eliminated, thereby saving 590 grams. The repositioning of the inertial platform that allows APRC operation has optimum accurate detection of the dynamic conditions of the bike, resulting in efficient electronic control strategies.

The Tuono V4 1100 RR and Tuono V4 1100 Factory APRC includes:
• ATC: Aprilia Traction Control, adjustable on the fly (without having to release the throttle) to 8 settings thanks to a practical joystick, boasts fine tuned and high performance operating logic.
• AWC: Aprilia Wheelie Control, adjustable to 3 levels, has highly precise operating strategies thanks to the repositioning of the inertial platform. Wheelie control can be adjusted on the fly without closing the throttle, like the ATC, thanks to the practical left side electric block.
• ALC: Aprilia Launch Control, for use on the track only, with 3 settings, uses extremely effective operating strategies.
• AQS: Aprilia Quick Shift, the electronic gearbox that allows shifting without closing the throttle and without using the clutch, also equipped with the downshift function, to allow clutchless downshifting. Its open-throttle downshifting feature is exclusive.
• APL: Aprilia Pit Limiter, the system that lets you select and limit the top speed allowed in pit lane at the track or simply to make it easier to comply with posted speed limits on the road.
• ACC: Aprilia Cruise Control. The advanced electronic management of the Tuono V4 has allowed cruise control to be introduced, very convenient on longer trips because it lets you maintain the set speed without touching the throttle.

Ducati Panigale V4

Ducati adds to its Panigale legacy with the 2018 V4 base model and its variants, the V4 S and the V4 Speciale. Dramatic as it may sound, the V4 family may well be the finest streetbikes at their price points.
It ain’t just about the raw power — 214 horsepower from the base model V4/V4 S and 226 horsepower from the Special — because the electronics suite is nearly beyond compare with an absolute alphabet soup of acronyms for all the engine/brake/chassis-control features. That performance comes bundled with a sexy superbike visage that looks fast even when sitting still !!
The Ducati Panigale V4 has won the title of “Most Beautiful Bike of Show” at EICMA 2017. Despite tough competition from a host of new bikes, this thirteenth edition of the “Vote and win the most beautiful bike of the show” competition, organised by Italian magazine Motociclismo, was won by Ducati for the ninth time.

More than 16,000 enthusiasts selected the Panigale V4 as their number one choice, making it the most popular bike among both EICMA visitors and “Motociclismo” website users. The new Ducati superbike won by a considerable margin, with 61.17% of total votes.

Honda Gold Wing

Kazuho Nakai, the second engineer on the new Gold Wing project, explains: “We wanted to give the Gold Wing customer a more premium experience. We wanted to appeal to younger riders and make it sportier.” But Nakai’s description only hints at the balancing act that Honda has whenever it comes out with an all-new Gold Wing—a balancing act that Bill Savino, product planner at American Honda, says became so intense that Honda seriously considered giving this new motorcycle a different name.

That’s surprising because this 2018 machine, an 1,833cc, flat-six-cylinder touring bike with integral saddlebags, sure looks like a Gold Wing. Yes, it has a fancy new front suspension, a modern and zoomy LED headlight, tauter lines, and no place for an ignition key, but if a time traveler showed you a hologram of it and told you it was a bike from the future, about all a motorcyclist could say is: “Cool. They’re still making Gold Wings.”
It’s been in the works for a while; Nakai said the project began four years ago, compared to the usual two-and-a-half-year length for most new motorcycle projects at Honda. “There was a lot of testing,” he offers, surely with some understatement. The design shares no components other than fasteners with its predecessor. And it is very much an integral design, with the desire to build a sleeker, lighter, and sportier Gold Wing manifesting itself in hundreds of subtle ways.
Not sure how suitable it is for the Greek twisty roads and anyway check out the price !!

Ducati Multistrada 1260

As compared to the 2015 1200 model, Ducati’s booming Multistrada 1260 S is more subtle evolution, than in-your-face revolution. With its grunt-laden, longer-stroke motor, calmer chassis geometry, updated electronics and higher level of equipment, it delivers more of everything: gut-wrenching performance, safety and genuine all-day, cross-continental comfort. It’s not cheap, but it’s a genuine do-anything superbike.
Although lacking the crispness in the corners of the 1290 Super Duke GT, or the angry composure of the S1000XR, the slightly softer out-going Multistrada 1200 always handled superbly and had brakes to shame many a proper superbike. If you had to be picky you’d point to a slight instability at extreme speeds, especially loaded up with pillion and luggage.
Ducati has retained that same reassuring handling character with the new 1260, but now the wheelbase is stretched out by 56mm (and has a 48mm longer swingarm), with 5mm more trail and 1 degree of rake. Now it promises to be more stable on the edge.
Semi-active suspension might be a technical masterpiece, but it works in the background, constantly adjusting, almost undetected, which is the biggest compliment you can give it. All you notice is the plush, stable ride and the ability for the Ducati to dig in and find grip.
The Multistrada 1260 range gets a new, longer-stroke 1262cc X-Diavel-derived motor with new mapping and exhaust. Ducati claims an extra 6bhp and 18% more torque at 5500rpm from the bigger V-twin, but more importantly for the road, it makes 85% of its torque from as low as 3500rpm. Now, when you whittle that down to the improvement you’re actually getting at the rear wheel the increase isn’t huge, but the extra shove is noticeable and there’s even more instant overtaking poke for overtakes and catapulting out of corners.
Now it’s even easier to glide through turns in lazy gears and have serious acceleration on the way out. Point the Ducati’s evil beak to the next corner and enjoy the volcanic thrust, explosive grunt and perfect power delivery that only a booming Ducati superbike can muster.
With every degree of throttle opening the clever DVT system keeps the engine clatter-free at low revs, but with 158bhp in the tank it has a wild side when you prod it in the ribs. Serious speed and raw, unadulterated power are always there for the asking, but it’s nicely tempered with a slice of silicone support.
A superbike-developed up/down quickshifter keeps things on the boil nicely, although it’s on the clonky side mated to a motor with such grunt and wide-spaced gears. Top level engine braking, traction and wheelie control let you squeeze more out of the Multistrada 1260 than you’d ever thought possible, wet or dry.

They were also a couple of MotoGP weapons there for the crowds to admire and take selfies with..!!